Guangzhou, Tengying Headquarters.
Since June, the group had actually been laying out plans for TikTok's development.
As the name implies, it involved early deployment on the newly established short video platform.
Over several months, the TikTok development team received a total of five hundred million in funding.
The team was standard-equipped with five hundred people and even occupied five floors of office space at the Guangzhou headquarters.
Now, with just a mere week until TikTok officially went live.
Tengying's advantages in the short video domain were undoubtedly unique.
However, this new short video platform also needed time to develop.
First, the platform's user base required time to grow, as it was reliant on the platform for the live streaming and online sales enterprise.
That certainly needed time to solidify as well.
This period was their phase to create internet celebrities.
Tengying was rather generous, offering a base salary of 15,000 to all signed talents during this development period.
They also provided apartments and the best living conditions, all to ensure they could peacefully build their fan base in the early stage.
Only after the TikTok platform truly expanded and secured a substantial user base would they consider monetization. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on NoveI~Fire.net
This period might require six months or perhaps a year; no one could say for sure.
Anyway, the big boss had already allocated five hundred million for this phase, and they only needed to focus on accumulating followers.
Monetization was not a consideration.
The task Pingsheng delegated was to grow alongside the platform.
It wasn't just the TikTok development team that was prepping early.
Similarly, Water Cloud Space had spent over three billion to acquire the Magic City campus of Water Cloud Space University.
On September 15th, the university officially opened.
This day was destined to become a historic one in the beauty and wellness industry.
Spanning twelve hundred acres, it admitted ten thousand rural girls from all over the country.
They underwent two years of professional training and were paid a salary of three thousand each month.
It was indeed a historic day for the entire industry because Water Cloud Space had truly turned its training academy into a specialized technical institution on par with first-class universities.
Even the graduates from here would surpass those from typical 985 universities in terms of employment and income.
This was the real reason why the announcement of enrollment targets briefly surged past one hundred thousand applicants.
Word-of-mouth from employees who graduated from Water Cloud Space spread.
One told ten, and ten told a hundred.
From that day on, Water Cloud Space could truly influence the entire industry.
It wasn't just Water Cloud Space University that opened.
On September 18th, Huadu spent thirty-two billion to acquire and refurbish the Tengying Entertainment Advanced Art School.
It too, officially started classes that day.
The first wave of recruits numbered five thousand students from rural areas.
The youngest were only sixteen, and the oldest were eighteen.
The school implemented a very strict elimination system, regularly admitting new students and eliminating those who tried to coast by.
In addition, dating was absolutely forbidden.
Anyone who dated was out.
Nobody knew why, but as long as it was a university opened by Chen Pingsheng,
girls under eighteen caught dating were immediately sent packing.
Like Water Cloud Space, they received a salary of three thousand while studying their craft.
Their acting instructors were all from Xiangjiang,
professors responsible for the top training classes for TVB actors.
He took acting more seriously than anyone; those who didn't meet the standards,
wouldn't stand a chance at getting the subsequent acting resources from Tengying.
They certainly couldn't make it like Liu Yifei.
Rural girls were already at a disadvantage in the entertainment industry; if they couldn't even act properly,
they better roll back to wherever they came from early on.
There was no need for politeness; he'd spent so much money to open the gates of the entertainment industry to these rural students,
not to have them waste time or retain them all like typical schools, regardless of whether their grades were good or bad.
There were monthly benchmark exams, and those who failed were directly shown the door.
Such was the rule at Tengying Art School, merciless.
The entertainment industry didn't need more expressionless faces without acting skills.
Tengying Entertainment needed even less; they already had plenty of big stars, why should they feed freeloaders?
It could only be said that the entertainment industry was cruel, with a very clear rule of survival of the fittest.
Of course, this included considerations of family background.
For these five thousand rural students, there was only one path.
That was to follow in the footsteps of Zhao Liying, who was truly the big sister of Tengying Entertainment.
If those coming from the countryside couldn't outwork the second-generation rich kids, they might as well find a factory job screwing in bolts.
In the opening speech, Chen Ping made it very clear.
Out of five thousand students, one-third would be eliminated in the first month, with another third gone after three months.
Thereafter, a regular elimination round would take place every month.
Those willing to work hard and endure hardships would stay; those looking to idle away their days would be kicked out.
Nobody expected that Tengying Art School's rules would be so stringent,
verging on the level of perverse.
It was nothing like a university; it more closely resembled a corporate employee selection and elimination contest over a three-year period.
Chen Pingsheng had established such rules because the Art School was different from Water Cloud Space.
There, if you diligently studied for two years, you could become an excellent employee at Water Cloud Space in the future.
But the Art School was different; Tengying Entertainment was indeed in the industry's top three, but it didn't have the resources to cover five thousand people.
It could offer only a few, or perhaps a few dozen opportunities to become big stars to everyone.